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Flyers Gameday: 12/14/19 @ MIN; Phantoms Update

December 14, 2019, 4:48 AM ET [107 Comments]
Bill Meltzer
Philadelphia Flyers Blogger •NHL.com • RSSArchiveCONTACT
GAME 32: FLYERS @ WILD

In the second game of a three-game road trip to play Western Conference teams, Alain Vigneault's Philadelphia Flyers (17-9-5 overall, 7-7-1 away) are in St. Paul on Saturday night to play Bruce Boudreau's Minnesota Wild (15-12-5, 8-1-3 home). Game time at the Xcel Energy Center is 7:00 p.m. ET.

The game will be televised on NBCSP. The radio broadcast will be on 97.5 The Fanatic with an online simulcast on Flyers Radio 24/7.

This is the first of two meetings between the teams, and the lone game in Minnesota. The teams will rematch in Philadelphia on the afternoon of March 14. Last season, the Flyers swept the season series with the Wild, winning 7-4 in Philadelphia (Jan. 14, 2019) and 5-4 in Minnesota (Feb. 12).

FLYERS OUTLOOK

Friday's news that left winger Oskar Lindblom has been diagnosed with a Ewing sarcoma (cancerous bone tumor) in his upper body made it hard for anyone to focus on hockey. All thoughts are with Oskar and his family.

On the hockey front, the Flyers are beginning a back-to-back set that will continue in Winnipeg on Sunday. With two regulation losses in the last three games (2-2-0 thus far in December), the Flyers have fallen one point behind both the Carolina Hurricanes and Pittsburgh Penguins. A win in Minnesota is important, but will not be easy.

The Flyers remain without leading scorer Travis Konecny (concussion). The good news is that Konecny has skated this week at the team's practice facility in Voorhees, NJ, along with Michael Raffl (broken right pinky finger).

The Flyers enter this game coming off a 3-1 loss in Colorado on Wednesday. Claude Giroux scored Philadelphia's lone goal, late in the third period. Philly struggled in the first period but Carter Hart nursed the game to intermission with only a 1-0 deficit. The Flyers dominated the second period but could not score, and saw their lone breakdown of the period end up in the net on a Mikko Rantanen goal that Hart had no chance to stop. A slow line change early in the third period turned the gap into a cavernous three-goal deficit.

The Flyers will split goaltending duties this weekend between Hart and Brian Elliott. There is no word as of this writing on which netminder will get the start on Saturday. The team practiced in Colorado on Friday. Projected lineups will be updated after Vigneault officially confirms a starter.

With one exception, the line combinations and defense pairs from Wednesday's game are expected to remain together in Minnesota, per Vigneault's post-practice statements to the media on the trip. Philippe Myers, who missed the Colorado game due to back spasms, will return to the lineup. Robert Hägg will be scratched.

It is a must for the Flyers to get their power play producing. The team is just 9 for its last 65 (13.8 percent): The team went went 9-for-54 (16.7 percent) in November and has started the December schedule with an 0-for-3 on the man advantage against Toronto, 0-for-3 against Arizona, yet another 0-for-3 against Ottawa and 0-for-2 in Colorado for a cumulative 0-for-11.

Entering this game, the Flyers have averaged 3.03 goals per game (T-14th) with allowing 2.68 per game (7th). The power play has dropped to 17.9 percent (19th) with one shorthanded goal allowed and the penalty kill enters at 85.0 percent (5th) with two shorthanded goals scored. The team has won faceoffs at a 54.5 percent clip (1st in the NHL).

WILD OUTLOOK

Minnesota stumbled badly out of the gates this season, but has more recently been among the hottest teams in the league, especially on home ice. The club is 9-1-4 overall in its last 14 games and brings an 11-game point streak at home (8-0-3) into this game.

On Thursday, the Wild outslugged the visiting Edmonton Oilers, 6-5. Eric Staal registered two points (1g, 1a) for his 232nd career multi-point game, and fifth so far this season. Jordan Greenway recorded a Gordie Howe Hat Trick. Rookie goalie Kaapo Kahkonen made 28 saves to earn his third career NHL victory.

Saturday's game concludes a three-game homestand for the Wild. After hosting the Flyers, Minnesota will embark on a three-game road trip to Chicago, Las Vegas and Arizona.

Entering this game, the Wild have averaged 3.04 goals per game (T-14th) and allowed 3.28 per game (28th). The power play comes in at 18.1 percent (17th) and the penalty kill at 77.6 percent (T-23rd). The team has won 49.3 percent of their faceoffs (20th).

PROJECTED STARTING LINEUPS (subject to change, will be updated)

FLYERS

28 Claude Giroux - 14 Sean Couturier - 93 Jakub Voracek
21 Scott Laughton - 13 Kevin Hayes - 49 Joel Farabee
25 James van Riemsdyk - 48 Morgan Frost - 18 Tyler Pitlick
72 David Kase - 24 Mikhail Vorobyev - 44 Chris Stewart

9 Ivan Provorov - 15 Matt Niskanen
6 Travis Sanheim - 61 Justin Braun
53 Shayne Gostisbehere - 5 Phil Myers

79 Carter Hart
[37 Brian Elliott]

Power Play 1: Giroux, Farabee, Couturier, Voracek, Gostisbehere
Power Play 2: Hayes, Frost, JVR, Provorov, Niskanen

Scratches: 8 Robert Hägg (healthy), 11 Travis Konecny (concussion, indefinite), 55 Sam Morin (torn ACL, out for season), 23 Oskar Lindblom (Ewing sarcoma, out for season).
LTIR: 12 Michael Raffl (broken right pinky finger), 19 Nolan Patrick (migraines)

WILD

16 Jason Zucker - 12 Eric Staal - 36 Mats Zuccarello
11 Zach Parise - 6 Ryan Donato - 22 Kevin Fiala
18 Jordan Greenway - 14 Joel Eriksson Ek - 19 Luke Kunin
17 Marcus Foligno - 49 Victor Rask - 38 Ryan Hartman​

20 Ryan Suter - 24 Matt Dumba
21 Carson Soucy - 25 Jonas Brodin
61 Brennan Menell - 77 Brad Hunt​

32 Alex Stalock
[31 Kaapo Kahkonen]

Power Play 1: Zucker, Staal, Zuccarello, Suter, Dumba
Power Play 2: Parise, Donato, Fiala, Menell, Hunt

Scratches:55 Nick Seeler (healthy)
Injured reserve: 9 Mikko Koivu (lower body, Dec. 2), 29 Greg Pateryn (bilateral core muscle tear), 46 Jared Spurgeon (broken hand, Dec. 4).
Personal leave: 40 Devan Dubnyk (spouse medical issue)

​*************

PHANTOMS BLANKED IN HARTFORD, REMATCH IN ALLENTOWN


Goals and wins have been very hard to come by of late for the Lehigh Valley Phantoms. On Friday, the team dropped its fourth straight game in regulation as they were shut out, 4-0, by the Atlantic Division leading Hartford Wolf Pack.

Igor Shesterkin recorded a 26-save shutout for Hartford. His toughest work came in the second and third periods, where had numerous big saves among the combined 21 (11 in the second period, 10 in the third that he faced). Connor Bunnaman led the Phantoms with five shots on goal.

Alex Lyon absorbed the loss in goal for the Phantoms, stopping 26 of 30 shots.

The Wolf Pack led 1-0 at the first intermission on a latter-period Nick Ebert tally. The Phantoms deficit increased to two in the middle frame on an unassisted Lewis Zerter-Gossage goal scored on a strange sequence. Phantoms defenseman Andy Welinski fell down handling the puck and Zerter-Gossage claimed it at the side of the net and beat Lyon. Nick Jones added even-strength and final minute power play goals to round out the scoring in the third period.

The Phantoms have scored only a combined two goals in their last four games and have been shut out in back-to-back games. The decimated lineup, severely depleted by injuries and NHL recalls, got two forwards back on Friday. German Rubtsov returned from a shoulder injury while Andy Andreoff was back from a lower-body injury. Defenseman Chris Bigras, who had been out since Nov. 6 due to injury, also made his return to the Lehigh Valley lineup.

Among the absent players on Friday were Cal O'Reilly (injured in last Saturday's game in Hershey) and defenseman Mark Friedman (injured last Friday at home against Hershey).

Friday's loss dropped Lehigh Valley below hockey .500 to 10-11-5. Hartford improved to 16-4-7. The same two teams will rematch on Saturday, as the scene shifts to the PPL Center in Allentown for the second half of the home-and-home set. Saturday's game is Teddy Bear Toss night. All collected stuffed animals will be donated to Valley Youth House for children in need across the Lehigh Valley.
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